Timing-over-Packet (ToP) technology enables accurate timing and synchronization to be distributed across asynchronous packet infrastructures, allowing carriers to confidently support time-critical services, such as video and voice, over packet networks
A common network timing transmission with ToP technology is shown in FIG. 1, where the transmitter side transmits the time stamp ntx, which is the phase of master digital controlled oscillator (DCO clock) at the transmitter side. At receiver side, the processor compares the transmitter time stamp (after it has passed through the network) with a locally generated time stamp from the receiver DCO. The difference in time stamp, which is called transit time, is used to adjust receiver DCO so that it will be synchronized with the master DCO. The whole architecture constitutes feedback loop.
A prior art system is shown in FIG. 1. In this system the output of the receiver DCO is compared with the timestamp received from the transmitter and the result used to change the output frequency of the DCO in a feedback loop. This feedback architecture gives rise to loop stability issues.